Sunshine
by cartunegirl56
Summary: He was done for. The adults would hear them and come running. The other kids would say it was Sollux's fault, and he and his dad would have to leave. His dad worked so hard to make a client of the richest woman in town, and Sollux had single handedly ruined it by making her nephew cry. He sat in silence as Eridan continued to sob loudly, silently willing him to shut up. WIP


**AN: Alright! This is my first try at a long-ish fanfic and it is very much a work in progress but I thought I might as well post the prologue, to see if I get any feedback. TITLE/DESCRIPTION/RATING/ANYTHING WILL CHANGE AS I WRITE MORE OF THE STORY. Will _eventually_ be Eridan/Sollux. Holy cow I'm nervous about posting this.**

It was a lovely spring morning. The sun shone happily on a clean street. Houses passed by one by one, getting progressively larger and more elaborate. A young boy, maybe 6 years old, poked his head out the window of a small red car. His eyes widened as he took in the neighborhood. He had never been to this side of town before, and the size of the houses fascinated him. Finally, the car slowed at the gated driveway of a white mansion. The boys father, who had been driving, rolled down the window and pushed the button by the gate.

"This is Bick Captor. I'm here for an appointment with Ms. Piexes?"

"Of course," said a grainy voice. "Go on through, sir."

The gate opened silently, and the car pulled up in front of the house. Mr. Captor took his son by the hand.

"Alright now Sollux, Ms. Piexes is an important customer. You will be on your best behavior, understood?"

The small boy nodded.

"Good kid," the father said, ruffling Sollux's hair.

He got out of the car and headed towards the house's door, his son following close behind. The door opened before he even had a chance to knock. A small asian woman greeted them, and shook Mr. Captor's hand enthusiastically.

"Hello! We've been expecting you! Please come in!"

The two stepped through the doorway, the woman closing the door behind them. She knelt down in front of Sollux.

"And who are you, dear?"

"This is my son, Sollux. Unfortunately, I couldn't find someone to watch him today, so he had to tag along. I hope that's alright."

"Of course!" she replied. "Actually, you look about the same age as my daughter, Ms. Piexes' daughter, and her little cousin. They're in the playroom. How about you come play with them while your father has his meeting?"

"Thure!" said the young boy, cringing inwardly as his speech impediment came through.

The women looked to Mr. Captor for approval, and he nodded.

"Ms. Piexes is right through that door, feel free to scurry on in! Come along with me, Sollux!"

She took the boy's hand, and they headed off down the hall. They walked through several doorways, and down a staircase.

"Why ith thith houthe tho huge? How much longer do we have to walk?" he complained, his dad's strict order long forgotten.

The woman giggled. "Not much farther dear, the playroom's right around this corner!"

As they rounded the corner, Sollux's eyes widened in amazement. A large room stood before him, filled with toys. There were dolls, games, dress up clothes, and even a small play structure with a slide! A young girl with long, reddish hair and wearing a blue tutu stood in front of a small table, pouring "tea" for a boy. The boy was wearing a long striped scarf that covered half of his face. Another little girl wearing a blue hat with cat ears rolled around on the floor, making what sounded like purring noises.

"Kids! This is Sollux. His dad is meeting with Ms. Piexes, and he'll be playing with you for a few hours. You will make him feel welcome, yes?"

"Yes Ms. Leijon!" said the redheaded girl excitedly.

"Ok, Mommy!" said the little girl on the floor.

"Purrfect!" Ms. Leijon looked at Sollux. "I'll be back when your dad is finished, alright?" And with a small nod from Sollux, she turned and left the room. Sollux turned to look at the other kids, and found himself face to face with the redheaded girl. A wide smile was on her freckled face, exposing her several missing teeth.

"Hi!" she said a bit too loudly, giving Sollux a quick hug. "My name is Feferi Piexes, and we are playing house. I'm the mom and you can be our son, okay?"

Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed his hand and led him over to the little table.

"Well go ahead, have a seat, stupid!"

It was hard to argue with that. Sollux sat down, and Feferi put a tea cup and a plate of toy food in front of him. "Eat up honey, you haveta go to school soon!"

Sollux began pretend-eating a plastic fried egg. "Great breakfatht, mom!" The boy sitting across from him raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Meow!" came a voice from the ground. The small asian girl, Ms. Leijon's daughter, rubbed her head against Sollux's leg.

"That's Nepeta, our cat!" remarked Feferi.

Sollux laughed.

"Hi kitty!" He patted Nepeta on top of her blue hat. Nepeta vibrated her tongue in a mock-purr. The boy in the scarf narrowed his eyes, still staring at Sollux. Sollux frowned.

"What'th your problem? Thtop thtaring at me!"

Even though his scarf covered his mouth, Sollux could tell he was glaring at him. No one said anything. The silence just made Sollux more angry. He stood up and grabbed at that stupid scarf. "N…n- no!"

Before Sollux could react, he was being shoved. Hard. He fell on to his back, knocking over the chair and moving the table. Nepeta dove out of the way. The other boy jumped at him, sitting on his stomach and pinning him to the ground.

"D-don't touch m'scarf, ev-ver!" he snarled.

Despite the stutter, Sollux felt kind of scared. This kid weighed a lot more than him. Sollux silently reprimanded himself for being so stupid and starting a fight. Even if this kid didn't kill him, his dad certainly would. Stupid stupid stupid.

"ERIDAN!" Feferi screeched, grabbing a fistful of his blonde hair.

Though he tried to wiggle out of her grip, she seemed to have no problem pulling him up off of Sollux and to his feet. Sollux took in a shaky breath. Eridan gave a wordless whine as Feferi reprimanded him.

"Eridan, stop being so sensitive! We were having a ton of fun and you had to ruin it like always, didn't you?!"

The room fell in to an uncomfortable silence. From the floor, Sollux could see Eridan's face cloud up. Feferi's expression softened instantly.

"No, wait. I'm sorry, I didn't-" Eridan let out a loud wail, tears spilling down his freckled cheeks.

"Uh oh, now you've done it…" said Nepeta quietly.

Sollux felt his stomach drop. This was it; he was done for. The adults would hear them and come running. The other kids would say it was Sollux's fault, and he and his dad would have to leave. His dad worked so hard to make a client of the richest woman in town, and Sollux had single handedly ruined it by making her nephew cry. He sat in silence as Eridan continued to sob loudly, silently willing him to shut up. They heard two sets of footsteps quickly making their way down the hallway. A tall man wearing a dark purple suit burst in to the room, followed immediately by Ms. Leijon.

"Sir, please go back. I can handle this. I…"

The man shushed her, and she reluctantly closed her mouth, a worried expression on her dainty face. He stormed across the room and slapped Eridan across the face with a loud smack. Eridan stopped screaming instantly and hung his head, silent tears dripping down his nose. No one spoke a word. The man knelt on one knee.

"Eridan, daddy was working today. Do you remember what I told you I always need when I'm working?"

Eridan sniffed and mumbled something indecipherable.

"Speak up, boy!"

"S- ssah…" the boy tried, visibly struggling.

The man raised his hand as if to strike him again.

"S-si ahlince!" Eridan gasped.

"Good," his father said, patting his shoulder.

With that he stood up, turned, and left the room, Nepeta's mother frowning and following quietly after him.

As soon as the adults left the room, Feferi was immediately next to Eridan, with a tissue and a hug. She wiped his eyes and adjusted his scarf, which had fallen out of place, back over his mouth. It was silent and methodical, as if she had done it many times before. Nepeta righted the fallen chair, and rearranged the teacups. The silence was unbearable to Sollux.

"Um, I'm thorry… I didn't mean for-"

"No no, it's okay!" Feferi interrupted. "My Uncle Ampora doesn't really like it when people cry. Alright, so where were we? Eri, do you want to play house some more?" Eridan shook his head no. "Okay! House is a stupid game anyway. How 'bout a board game? Nepeta, go get Candy Land!"

"Yes, purrrinsess!" Nepeta said, running away and pouncing on a game box.

The four children played for a while, Feferi talking non-stop to prevent awkward silences. After perhaps a few hours, Ms. Leijon came back in to the room. Her cheerful demeanor had entirely returned, and she smiled warmly at the children.

"Sollux! Please come with me hon. Your father has finished up his meeting and is ready to leave now!" "Awwwww, and we were just starting to have fun!" Feferi whined.

Ms. Leijon crossed her arms and gave a stern look.

"Fine." said Feferi. She looked at Sollux and gave him a hug. "It was awesome meeting you!" she said cheerfully. "You will come over again, right?"

Sollux shrugged his shoulders. "Probably not. My dad doethn't uthually bring me with him when he'th working." "Alright dear, come along," said Ms. Leijon, taking Sollux's hand.

Sollux nodded and followed her out of the room.

"Bye!" called Nepeta after him. They walked back down the hallway and up the stairs. Sollux's father was standing by the entryway, next to a rather plump woman who Sollux knew to be Ms. Piexes.

"Hey kiddo!" Mr. Captor said, ruffling his son's hair. He turned to Feferi's mother. "Ms. Peixes, thank you for welcoming us in to your lovely home. I hope we will keep in contact with each other?"

The woman nodded. "Of course! It was lovely meeting you."

Mr. Captor shook her hand and nodded towards Ms. Leijon, and he and Sollux walked out the door and into the sunshine.

Feferi, Nepeta, and Eridan sat in the playroom, chatting amongst themselves.

"Sollux was so nice!" Feferi said excitedly. "I hope we see him again someday!"

"I don' like him." Eridan said. Sollux had tried to take his scarf and gotten him in trouble with his dad! He was just another scruffy poor kid and a stupid meanie.

Feferi crossed her arms. "Hmph. Well I liked him."

"He was purretty cute!" said Nepeta. "His eyes were different colors, like a cat I met the other day!"

Feferi giggled. "Sudden tickle fight!" she yelled, pouncing on Nepeta.

The two rolled on the floor for a while, then chased each other around the room and out in to the hall. Eridan ran after them, smiling. Feferi and Nepeta were so cute. Especially Feferi. Eridan wished he could be as perfect as his cousin. The kids ran around the mansion, narrowly missing breaking a few things, and laughing all the way. "Kids! Quiet!" Shouted a gruff voice.

The three skidded to a stop, Nepeta tripping over a carpet and landing on her belly, still giggling energetically. "Sorry Uncle Ampora!" Feferi called.

"W-what should we do n-now?" asked Eridan.

"Hmm..." said Feferi. "How about we get a snack?"

"Yay, snack!" cheered Nepeta. And the three headed towards the kitchen.

As they neared the kitchen, voices could be heard.

"Aww no, Cronus is in there!" Nepeta complained. Eridan's older brother Cronus was self centered and annoying. "So's Meenah though! Come on!" Feferi took Nepeta by the arm and forcibly dragged her in to the kitchen, followed reluctantly by Eridan.

Meenah Piexes was standing by the counter, heating up a plate of fish sticks. Her long orange hair was in pigtails as always. Standing next to her going on about god knows what was Cronus Ampora, stopping every now and then to take a lick of his grape lollipop.

"Hi Meenah!" Feferi greeted.

Meenah gave a half-hearted wave.

Cronus looked at the younger children. "Vwhat are you guys doing bargin' in here and interrupting me? Scram!" "Oh, be quiet Cronus, we're just getting something to eat." Feferi chided, walking into the walk-in pantry and grabbing at a bag of goldfish.

"Vwhatever." Cronus sighed, returning to pester Meenah. "So guess vwhat? I vwrote another song vwith my new guitar. Seriously, you have to hear it, Meenah. Meenah?" He gave the other twelve year old a poke in the ribs. "Quit it or I'll kill you. Seriously this time I really will," Meenah sassed. She opened the microwave, took out her plate, and walked out of the room.

"No vwait! I havwe another thing I can play too. You havwe to like this one!" he said, hastily following his cousin out of the room.

Feferi sighed as she poured some of the cheese crackers into a bowl and sat on the floor in front of her friends. The three children dug their hands in to the bowl eagerly.

"Your older siblings are so annoying," Nepeta said through a mouthful of crumbs. "My sister is way more fun than them."

"Well I hope we can meet her sometime soon!" exclaimed Feferi.

"Nah, she likes staying at home and taking care of the cats. She told my mom that she was old enough to watch herself, but I think mom still worries about her."

The children sat chatting about various things until it was time for Nepeta and her mother to head home.

Meanwhile, in a modest apartment in a big city, Sollux Captor laid on his couch, feet kicking aimlessly in the air, and hands on a game controller. Another boy sat next to him, visibly putting all his energy in the video game before him. Somehow, he still lost miserably. "Damn it!" He yelled, throwing the controller to the ground. "Language, Karkat!" called Mr. Captor from the other room.

"Thorry KK, but nobody can ever beat me!" Sollux laughed.

Karkat crossed his tiny arms and gave a frustrated hmph. "I don't know why the heck I even come over to your house! All you want to do is play your dumb video games. I bet you think you're so much better than me, don't you?" Sollux rolled his eyes. "You're a jerk," Karkat added for good measure.

"Fine. Thince you're tho thick of being a thtupid lother, what do you want to do?" Karkat flopped back against the couch cushion. "I don't know. I want to go outside, but it's already dark out. Why couldn't I come over earlier? What have you even been doing all day?"

"I told you, I wath with my dad. He took me over to thith huge houthe that belongs to some fat lady he'th working for."

"Sounds boring."

Sollux raised an eyebrow. "Nah, actually there were a few pretty nice girlth over there."

"So that's what you did," Karkat poked at his friend. "You hung out with a bunch of girls all day? Weirdo." Sollux playfully slapped Karkat's shoulder. "Hey, there wath another boy there too! He wath a total crybaby. And he talked weird."

Karkat stared at his friend. "Yes, because you should always avoid people who talk weird. They're all jerks." Sollux stared for a minute, then suddenly frowned. "Hey! That wath really mean, KK…"

Karkat's expression softened and he shrunk back in his seat. "I'm sorry… Do you not want to be my friend anymore?"

"Hehe you athk that every day! Theriously, calm down."

Karkat turned red. "Whatever," he grumped.

The two boys spent the rest of the evening playfully bickering. They were certainly the best of friends.


End file.
